Blaze

As a transplanted Southerner, I usually hate to see movies about the South, but this one is dead-on. The most amazing thing about the movie is Lolita Davidovich, whose performance is wonderful, as is her "accent". The Southern politics were displayed accurately (unfortunately), and the "boots scene" still has me smiling. Wonderful!

Southern politics and strip-tease dancers make for a steamy mix and although we don't feel the heat of `Big Easy' this does try to raise the temperature. But it's thwarted by its own lack of direction. There are, in effect, three stories here - firstly the fall and rise (and fall again) of Earl K Long (`fine Governor of the great State of Louisiana'); secondly, the rise of stripper Blaze Starr and thirdly, what happens when these two larger than life characters form a life-changing relationship. Shelton concentrates on the latter, leaving us feeling that there might actually have been more fertile ground in either of the first two.

Newman (as Long) dominates the proceedings as a scoundrel of a politician that y'all are gonna love. His political opponents are totally against his support for Civil Rights - and his supporters are dubious too. His relationship with Starr doesn't exactly help his political chances. The politics alone, with Starr more in the background, could have made for an intense movie. Starr arrives on the scene as a leading light in the New Orleans strip joints (although quite how she makes the leap from nervous, reluctant stripper to top of the bill is omitted). Once they get together the film loses direction, not knowing whether to delve more deeply into the politics or whether to lighten the presentation by concentrating on the relationship. Some scenes seem to be included primarily so that some cute jokes can be kept in the script - `meet my yes men and their wives' is an example of a scene that doesn't add much to depth, but seems to be there for the laugh. Overall Shelton leans to the light touch and the whole ends up begging more questions than it answers.

The film does acknowledge the changing times of the late 1950s and the advent of a more liberal society. Long foresees the advent of a successful Civil Rights movement, whilst Starr sees a future where strippers will be required to remove their G-strings. But overall this is a lost opportunity, concentrating on the veneer of a not-too-convincing relationship at the expense of a greater expose. In short Shelton should have removed the political G-string.

A fun and showy performance by Newman keeps the pace moving, but it is Davidovich who steals the film with a warmth and grace reminiscent of a Rita Hayworth. She's absolutely adorable in the role and the film is successful in other respects as well.

The scandalous love affair that was going on between Louisiana governor Earl Long (Paul Newman) and stripper Blaze Starr (Lolita Davidovich) is poorly dramatized in this rather slow moving 1989 Touchstone release. A good cast certainly tries hard but can't save this film from being a downer in the world of biopics.

This was one of the few times that Ron Shelton made a movie that didn't deal with sports and he did a pretty good job. Paul Newman plays the democratic governor of Louisiana and he has an election coming up but can't run for governor again, so he has a friend of his run for governor and Newman will run as lieutenant governor and right after the election the friend will step down and Newman will become governor. Lolita Davidovich plays a big time stripper who at first is suspicious of Newman when he comes on to her but the wind up falling in love. This is set in the late 50s and is down south and since segregation is a big issue Newman's rivals will use it against him in the election. It doesn't help when Newman is having an affair with a stripper and supports civil rights for black people. This is a really good film about politics and also turns out to be a good romance.